The United States needs more economic growth. In as few as 12 weeks, another debt ceiling crisis is coming.

Global credit markets anticipate economic turmoil as a consequence of the debt ceiling standoff. Yet politicians from both parties lie about the root causes of the recurring debt crises . Democrats lie about taxes. Former president Donald Trump’s tax cuts are not the sole cause of the debt burden. Federal tax revenues are running in line with long-term averages. It is also absurd to argue , as Democrats often do, that the rich can simply fill in the deficit gaps. At the same time, Republicans lie about President Joe Biden's wasteful discretionary spending being the cause of the debt crisis. The fundamental cause of the deficit and the looming possible temporary default is entitlements .

Put simply, the public loves Social Security and Medicare. But the public is unwilling either to pay the higher taxes necessary to fund the programs or to accept significant reforms to them. The facts are clear, however.

The worker/retiree ratio is too low to ensure the viability of the two entitlement programs. Since 1970, the U.S. dependency ratio has deteriorated dramatically . In 1960, for every retiree there were 5.1 workers paying into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Today, there are less than three workers paying entitlement taxes for every retired person. That is too low. The major entitlement programs are de facto insolvent.

The U.S. needs more workers to fill the gap. The only way to increase the number of workers necessary to fund the entitlement programs is through comprehensive immigration reform. We must secure the border but open the immigration door wide for the best and brightest from other countries. First- and second-generation immigrants are the most economically dynamic segments of the population. They strive to live the American dream. The average income of an American of a first- or second-generation person from India is 80% higher than the typical income of Americans whose ancestry dates back three generations or more.

Immigrants are entrepreneurs and the founders of over 50% of technology start-ups. First- and second-generation immigrants are also the leaders of the country’s most dynamic companies: Alphabet, Microsoft, and Nvidia, to name just three. Immigrants are driving the artificial intelligence revolution, which has the potential to dramatically raise the long-term growth rate of the country.

The problem is that Biden isn't terribly interested in the best and the brightest. Instead, he has opened a backdoor to U.S. immigration policy. Under the guise of humanitarian impulses, he has allowed over 600,000 people to enter the U.S. This action is outside of the law and is an unconstitutional act. Biden again acts as an emperor ruling by fiat, not by law. Yet secure borders plus high-skilled immigration reform is good for the nation, and if Congress were to find the courage to pursue this, it would help significantly toward addressing the nation's debt ceiling crisis.

James Rogan is a former U.S. foreign service officer who later worked in finance and law for 30 years. He writes a daily note on finance and the economy, politics, sociology, and criminal justice.